Watching
so called Pre-Code films today can be a somewhat odd experience. The Hay’s Code
came into effect in 1930, but wasn’t really enforced until July of 1934. This
meant for a few years, filmmakers could get away with a lot of things that they
would not have been able to for years after the code started to be enforced.
Frank Borzage’s 1933 film Man’s Castle is one of the best pre-code films.

The
film stars Spencer Tracy as Bill, who we first meet on a park bench in New York,
wearing a tuxedo. This is where he meets Trina (Loretta Young), a young woman,
crying because she has no money, no food and nowhere to sleep. After inquiring
as to if she has considering becoming a prostitute (“Oh no, I couldn’t do
that”) or throwing herself into the river (“I’ve thought about it”) – although
never, of course, using the words, Bill whisks her away to a fancy restaurant.
Judging on his clothes and the restaurant he chooses, Trina understandably
thinks Bill is rich – but after the meal when he calls the manager over, he
informs him that she has no money, and “neither do I”, and then begins to give
a speech about 12 million men out of work, before the manager shoos them from
the restaurant, telling them they don’t have to pay. That tuxedo, it turns out,
is just a demeaning uniform for one of the odd jobs Bill has. Bill brings her
back to a shanty town along the Hudson River he sleeps in – and after some late
night skinning dipping, the two of them shack up together.

Man’s
Castle is a strange film indeed. The film is undeniably about the Great
Depression, even if the words themselves are never used, the film certainly
doesn’t shy away from the mass of poor people America had at the time. And the
film is also very frank about the sexual relationship between the unmarried
Bill and Trina – she even gets pregnant! – and Bill’s attitude about sex (as
Trina washes and irons one of his shirts she says “He doesn’t like anything
touching his skin that isn’t clean”) – although this doesn’t stop him from
pursuing Fay (Glenda Farrell), who in the parlance of the day could be
described as a “good time girl” (in a review I read, they used the term “easy
lay”, and that’s pretty accurate as well). Bill hates himself a little for
soiling Trina – trying to push her constantly, by reminding her they he isn’t
going to “tied down”, and insulting her for being “too skinny to be a real
woman”. Trina stays though – she loves him too much to leave – and even builds
a little sun roof for him, so when he gets claustrophobic in their shack, and
wants to see the great outdoors, he can gaze out into the sky – the very sky
that will eventually lead him to realize he does love Trina, when the blue of
the sky reminds him or her eyes.

It’s
moments like that, that make Man’s Castle so strange – because while on one
hand, it is a film about the Great Depression and sex, the film takes the form
of a fairy tale in many ways. Borzage has often been called a romanticist
(having not seen any of his other films, I cannot say if that’s true or not),
but he shoots much of Man’s Castle in soft focus, which certainly makes the
film feel more like a fairy tale, than a hard-hitting, “realistic” film.
Despite the fact that Tracy’s Bill outwardly seems hard and cynical, Tracy
doesn’t deliver his dialogue in a cruel way as he easily could have, if he
wanted us to hate Bill. You like Bill almost because he can be a little cruel.
And Loretta Young delivers one of her best performances as Trina – who at first
seems rather one dimensional – a little too chipper and perky and naïve to be
believed. But as the movie goes along, Young shows her strength – she is the
stronger of the two characters, the one who has to do all the heavy lifting in
their relationship.

The
movie, of course, needs to add in more plot than it really needs. This
basically revolves around three other residents of the shanty town – the
drunken Flossie (who doesn’t seem to serve much of a purpose until her final
scene), the lecherous Bragg, who leers at Trina when she goes skinny dipping,
and finds one excuse after another to try and get her alone, and Ira, a former
minister who gives Bill a bible and tries to do the right thing. You know Bragg
is up to no good well before he suggests a crime – that will bring the movie to
its climax.

Man’s
Castle is a great Pre-code film. The performances by Tracy and Young are both
top notch, and the supporting performances get the job done. The film combines
its realistic and fairy tales elements far better than I would have thought
possible. The film isn’t as well-known as many other pre-code films (like the
infamous Baby Face with Barbara Stanwyck sleeping her way to the top), but it’s
better than most, because it is not simply using the elements that they
wouldn’t get away with later for shock value, but to deliver a fascinating
story. Track this one down – it’s worth it.

About Me

I am an accountant, living in Brantford, ON - and although I am married and have beautiful daughter, I still find time to watch a lot of movies. This blog is mostly reviews of new movies - with other musing thrown in as well.